Xtraordinary Things

Anything that goes beyond the normal such as:
Larger then normal People, Smaller then normal People, Paranormal Occurances, Things that go bump in the night. In general, things that do not seem to be normal.

Although Nessie was sighted as far back as the 6th century a.d. it is the modern day sightings that have captured the public imagination. In the early part of the 1930's a new road was built around Loch Ness which in turn brought in a spate of new sightings from road users and sightseers. Up until this time stories of the monster circulated more within the local community but talk of other sightings were spreading outwith the village.The first recorded sighting of Nessie on land was made by Mr Spicer and his wife, on July 22nd 1933, who were driving down the road between the Loch Ness side villages of Dores and Inverfarigaig. They caught sight of a large cumbersome animal crossing the road ahead, which was some 20 yards from the water. They first saw a long neck, forming a number of arches, a little thicker than a elephant's trunk and a huge lumbering body heading towards the Loch. It disappeared into the bushes out of sight. After this sighting reports flooded in and interest grew on an international scale. Speculators offered huge prizes for the animal, dead or alive. Circus owner Bertram Mills promised a sum of £20,000 to any man who could bring the creature alive to his circus.

Probably one of the first photographs to be taken of the monster was snapped by a British Aluminium Company worker, Mr Hugh Gray, near Foyers. It showed a writhing creature creating a considerable disturbance on the surface of the Loch. He only saw part of the animal which he estimated to be around40 ft long, which included a thick rounded back and also a muscular looking tail.In December of the same year a hippo's foot had been planted by a prankster and all was taken seriously until officials finally uncovered the truth. This had an affect on future reports of sightings, as theywere taken less seriously.But still reported sightings were becoming increasingly common and more intriguing.

On the 5th of January, 1934, a motorcyclist almost collided with the monster as he was returning home from Inverness. It was around 1a.m. and was bright due to the moonlight. As Mr Grant approached Abriachan on the north-eastern shore of the Loch he saw a large shape loom on the right side of the road.As he approached the object he saw a small head attached to a long neck.The animal saw Grant and promptly crossed the road back down to the Loch. Mr Grant, by this time, had jumped off his motorbike and followed the path it took to the Loch only to see the rippling water where thecreature had entered.In April,1934 the most famous photograph was obtained by a London surgeon as he heading towards Inverness along the new road.

The Surgeon's picture. There is some dispute as to the authenticity of this photograph.This event encouraged more people to come forward with their tales of sightings.An event on the 5th of June, 1934 was considered to be of importance but was not widely publicised. It involved a young girl from the Fort Augustus area who was employed as a maid in a large house close to abbey. It was about 6:30 a.m., the maid was looking out of a window down the Loch. She saw on the shore, ' one of the biggest animals she had seen in her life, ' at a range of about 200 yards. Her description was similar to those of others, giraffe like neck, small head, skin like an elephant and two very short fore legs or flippers. She watched it for around 20 mins when it re-entered the water and disappeared.

There were a number of privately funded investigations, most of which were not successful, which took place in the same year. There was one such expedition which did have a degree of success. It was led by a Sir Edward Mountain in July, 1934. During that period of research and investigation he obtained five still pictures of the monster, he had observed the monster, along with members of his team, and had actually filmed the monster. It was probably because the expedition was so well funded that a result was most likely and that a poorly funded investigation would be doomed to failure.

As the threat of war with Germany grew stronger, Nessie and all the sightings were furthest things from peoples minds, but there were some recorded sightings and even a number of photographs were taken. During the war Loch Ness was in control of the Navy and the loch area was secured. This did not stop the monster from making itself known.In May, 1943, a Mr C.B. Farrel of the Royal Observer Corps was on duty to warn of incoming enemy bombers but instead observed the movements of the monster at a distance of 250 yards. He saw 20-30 ft of the monster's body and the neck which was approximately 4-5ft above the surface of the water. The eyes, he explained, were large and the body of the monster appeared to have a 'fin'. It finally submerged without a movement on the water.

When the war was over and up until the late '50's sightings of Nessie continued as people got back onto the road with their motorcars on the Loch side road. The monster was still a local source of interest but remained the complete enigma.

In 1951 a new photograph appeared which to some confirmed the existence of the monster. On the 14th of July at around 6:30 a.m. Mr Lachlan Stewart, a woodcutter employed by the forestry commission, saw something large moving out on the Loch. With a friend he ran to the waters edge and there about 50 yards away they saw three humps, each about 5 ft long moving at fast speed. Mr Stewart ,who had picked up a small camera before leaving his house, took this photograph. Seconds later a small head and long neck appeared in front of the first hump then the monster turned out towards the centre of the Loch and with a lot of splashing swam off and sinking head first 300 yards offshore, disappeared. Mr Stewart estimated the length of head and neck to be 6 ft, and then 15-20 ft behind the last hump he noticed a commotion in the water suggesting the movement of the tail.

In December 1954 another 'sighting' was made by a Peterhead fishing drifter called 'Rival III'. The vessel captured an unusual graphical recording of a large object at a depth of around 480 ft - 100 ft or so above the bottom - which kept pace with the boat for half a mile then disappeared.

Another eyewitness account happened in October 1955, by Colonel Patrick Grant of Knockie Estate. He was travelling from Fort Augustus to Invermoriston and nearing Inchnacardoch Bay he saw a great commotion in the water between 100-200 yards from the road. He brought his car to a stop and could see a black object above the surface 10 or 15 ft long. In less than a minute the object suddenly started swimming eastwards, parallel with the shore and very near the surface though submerged. Moving at great speed it travelled 200-300 yards and disappeared completely.

1955 brought one of the most intriguing photograph ever taken. Peter A. Macnab from Ayrshire was having a holiday in the Highlands and was preparing to take a photograph of Urquhart Castle. His attention was drawn to his left where he saw an enormous dark animal with two humps. This is the photograph he took.

Spring 1958. The proprietor of The Foyers Hotel, Mr Hugh Rowand, his wife and two friends were seated in their garden overlooking Loch Ness when his eye caught a stationary fin shaped object in the water near Sand Point. A few seconds elapsed and the object sprang into life and shot across the Loch towards Drumnadrochit. Mr Rowand guessed it's speed to be in the region of 20-25 knots.

A Mr H.L. Cockrell of Dumfries, Scotland, had a remarkable experience with the monster in the Autumn of 1958 when he met it in his canoe on the Loch. Mr Cockrell being an expert seaman and familiar with small crafts had developed a waterproof camera with flash equipment which he used from his canoe. The camera was strapped to his head like a miner's lamp and activated by the movement of his mouth which left his hands free to paddle. He was boating about dawn on the Loch when something appeared about 50 yards away. It looked like it had a large flat head 4 or 5 feet long and about 3 feet to the rear of this he noticed another thin line, all very low in the water. He swung round to approach what ever it was and to his great horror it turned towards him. He took a shot with his camera and kept moving towards it and to his relief the creature turned to another direction. When the film was developed , although it showed the Loch to be calm, there was a great deal of disturbance on part of the surface of the water.

The day after Mr Cockrell's sighting the monster was seen by a Mr Brown and his wife from Invergordon in the same place but closer to shore. They described it as three thick black humps moving through the water with 50 ft ahead of the humps a movement which seemed to suggest a head.

Approaching paranormal phenomena from a research perspective is often difficult because even when the phenomena are seen as real they may be difficult to explain using existing rules or theory. By definition, paranormal phenomena exist outside of conventional norms. Scientists[who?] contend that they don't exist at all. Despite this challenge, studies on the paranormal are periodically conducted by researchers all from various disciplines. Some researchers study just the beliefs in paranormal phenomena regardless of whether the phenomena actually exist.

Charles Fort (1874 – 1932) is perhaps the best known collector of paranormal anecdotes. Fort is said to have compiled as many as 40,000 notes on unexplained phenomena, though there were no doubt many more than these. These notes came from what he called "the orthodox conventionality of Science", which were odd events originally reported in magazines and newspapers such as The Times and scientific journals such as Scientific American, Nature and Science. From this research Fort wrote seven books, though only four survive. These are: The Book of the Damned (1919), New Lands (1923), Lo! (1931) and Wild Talents (1932); one book was written between New Lands and Lo! but it was abandoned and absorbed into Lo!.

The possibility of extraterrestrial life is not, by itself, a paranormal subject. Many scientists are actively engaged in the search for unicellular life within the solar system, carrying out studies on the surface of Mars and examining meteors that have fallen to Earth.[28] Projects such as SETI are conducting an astronomical search for radio activity that would show evidence of intelligent life outside the solar system.[29]Scientific theories of how life developed on Earth allow for the possibility that life developed on other planets as well. The paranormal aspect of extraterrestrial life centers largely around the belief in unidentified flying objects and the phenomena said to be associated with them.

Early in the history of UFO culture, believers divided themselves into two camps. The first held a rather conservative view of the phenomena, interpreting it as unexplained occurrences that merited serious study. They began calling themselves "ufologists" in the 1950s and felt that logical analysis of sighting reports would validate the notion of extraterrestrial visitation.[4]

The second camp consisted of individuals who coupled ideas of extraterrestrial visitation with beliefs from existing quasi-religious movements. These individuals typically were enthusiasts of occultism and the paranormal. Many had backgrounds as active Theosophists, Spiritualists, or were followers of other esoteric doctrines. In contemporary times, many of these beliefs have coalesced into New Age spiritual movements.[4]

Both secular and spiritual believers describe UFOs as having abilities beyond what is considered possible according to aerodynamics and physical laws. The transitory events surrounding many UFO sightings also limits the opportunity for repeat testing required by the scientific method. Acceptance of UFO theories by the larger scientific community is further hindered by the many possible hoaxes associated with UFO culture.

Ghosts

For believers, ghosts are generally seen to be the spirit or soul of a deceased person.[25] Alternative theories expand on that idea and include belief in the ghosts of deceased animals. Sometimes the term "ghost" is used synonymously with any spirit or demon[26], however in popular usage the term typically refers to a deceased person.

The belief in ghosts as souls of the departed is closely tied to the concept of animism, an ancient belief which attributed souls to everything in nature.[4] As the nineteenth-century anthropologistJames Frazer explained in his classic work, The Golden Bough, souls were seen as the creature within that animated the body.[27] Although the human soul was sometimes symbolically or literally depicted in ancient cultures as a bird or other animal, it was widely held that the soul was an exact reproduction of the body in every feature, even down to clothing the person wore. This is depicted in artwork from various ancient cultures, including such works as the Egyptian Book of the Dead, which shows deceased people in the afterlife appearing much as they did before death, including the style of dress.

A widespread belief concerning ghosts is that they are composed of a misty, airy, or subtle material. Anthropologists speculate that this may also stem from early beliefs that ghosts were the person within the person, most noticeable in ancient cultures as a person's breath, which upon exhaling in colder climates appears visibly as a white mist.[4] This belief may have also fostered the metaphorical meaning of "breath" in certain languages, such as the Latinspiritus and the Greekpneuma, which by analogy became extended to mean the soul. In the Bible, God is depicted as animating Adam with a breath.

Numerous theories have been proposed by scientists to provide non-paranormal explanations for ghosts sightings.[4] Although the evidence for ghosts is largely anecdotal, the belief in ghosts throughout history has remained widespread and persistent.

UFO s

A 1952 photo of a purported UFO over Passaic, NJ

Possibility of extraterrestrial life is not, by itself, a paranormal subject. Many scientists are actively engaged in the search for unicellular life within the solar system, carrying out studies on the surface of Mars and examining meteors that have fallen to Earth.[28] Projects such as SETI are conducting an astronomical search for radio activity that would show evidence of intelligent life outside the solar system.[29]Scientific theories of how life developed on Earth allow for the possibility that life developed on other planets as well. The paranormal aspect of extraterrestrial life centers largely around the belief in unidentified flying objects and the phenomena said to be associated with them.

Early in the history of UFO culture, believers divided themselves into two camps. The first held a rather conservative view of the phenomena, interpreting it as unexplained occurrences that merited serious study. They began calling themselves "ufologists" in the 1950s and felt that logical analysis of sighting reports would validate the notion of extraterrestrial visitation.[4]

The second camp consisted of individuals who coupled ideas of extraterrestrial visitation with beliefs from existing quasi-religious movements. These individuals typically were enthusiasts of occultism and the paranormal. Many had backgrounds as active Theosophists, Spiritualists, or were followers of other esoteric doctrines. In contemporary times, many of these beliefs have coalesced into New Age spiritual movements.[4]

Both secular and spiritual believers describe UFOs as having abilities beyond what is considered possible according to aerodynamics and physical laws. The transitory events surrounding many UFO sightings also limits the opportunity for repeat testing required by the scientific method. Acceptance of UFO theories by the larger scientific community is further hindered by the many possible hoaxes associated with UFO culture.

Etymology

The word “paranormal” has been in the English language since at least 1920.[32][33] It consists of two parts: para and normal. In most definitions of the word paranormal, it is described as anything that is beyond or contrary to what is deemed scientifically possible.[34] The definition implies that the scientific explanation of the world around us is the 'normal' part of the word and 'para' makes up the above, beyond, beside, contrary, or against part of the meaning.

Para has a Greek and Latin origin. Its most common meaning (the Greek usage) is 'similar to' or 'near to', as in paragraph. In Latin, para means 'above,' against,' 'counter,' 'outside,' or 'beyond'. For example, parapluie in French means 'counter-rain' – an umbrella. It can be construed, then, that the term paranormal is derived from the Latin use of the prefix 'para', meaning 'against, counter, outside or beyond the norm.'